We recently conducted interviews for a secretarial position in our organization. We had 5 interviews one day and at the end of the day I looked at my assistant and asked her what she thought of the interviews that day. She responded with, “they were all kind of the same.”

I had to agree. All of them were dressed for the cause and had a bubbly personality to them, but we were looking for more than that. We wanted someone who wasn’t afraid to be different.

We have hired for this position in the past and it does take someone who has a sense of professionalism in their style and has a bubbly personality, but we wanted more than that. We wanted someone who stood out. I’m not talking “stand out” like having purple hair or a nose ring (although that would have been different), I’m talking edgy- someone who came in with a purpose and wanted to make that job their baby and wanted to take that job to new heights.

We weren’t just looking for someone to come in and answer the phones and send faxes. We were looking for someone who was going to differentiate themselves from the crowd and truly make a difference for our team. After all, that was different from anything or anyone that we’d had in the past.

I challenge you this week to differentiate yourself from the crowd. Your career will soar to new heights when you separate yourself from the ordinary crowd.

Most Businesses Fail: You are going to have to persevere and be resilient, and even then the odds aren’t great. 50% of businesses fail in the first year and 95% fail within five years. If you have the guts to be an entrepreneur you are naturally born to persevere, so stick with it and do whatever it takes within good ethical standards to survive.

You Need To Study Then Dominate Your Competition: You need to study and embrace the fact that you will have competition. I say study, not so that you can copy or even just compete, you need to work hard at being innovative and doing things differently because your end goal needs to be to dominate your competition so you are no longer in the same class.

You Need to Go Out and Get Customers; They Aren’t Just Going to Walk In: This is probably one of the biggest mistakes all entrepreneurs make. Just because you have a brilliant idea and maybe the best company in the world, if nobody knows about it you will not succeed. The customers will not walk in just because your company is in business, at least not enough to keep you in business. You need to get out and network, knock on doors, go to community events, volunteer, maybe even give incentives for referrals. Whatever it takes to get your name known out there you must do.

You Will Want to Give Up: Being an entrepreneur is hard and the ups and down can be exhausting, so you will have times of doubt and you will want to quit. Just remember if it was easy everyone would do it and succeed. I always suggest having a round table or mastermind of likeminded business people or entrepreneurs so that you can bounce ideas off of one another. Trust me it is worth it in the end.

You Can’t Do It Yourself: Know your strengths and staff your weaknesses. I am not organized at all and I am horrible with confrontation. So I make sure to staff what I am not good at but I am extremely motivated and do whatever it takes to make my business a success.

Explain the Vision: Millennials want to understand the big picture so they can really dive into their work and get excited and passionate about it. Unlike other generations they are not afraid to ask why if they don’t understand the vision. Even though we may feel like it, this isn’t to be annoying they just really want their work to have meaning.

Flexibility and Growth Potential: Flexibility is one of the most sought after drivers for millennials in the workplace because they appreciate a work life balance. Also, many aren’t afraid of self-responsibility if the flexibility is a reward. So let their hard work pay off by giving them small growth opportunities quickly. Remember we live in a new age where people want instant gratification so the old incentives may still work but if he takes longer than a fiscal quarter to complete and get a reward you could lose some millennials.

Include Fun and Balance: Many people are used to all work no play. But millennials see work as an extension of their social network. So although holding people accountable and making sure you don’t run a circus is important, make sure you try to keep a fun and relaxed atmosphere.

Give feedback and Encouragement often: Giving clear expectations from the get go and giving honest feedback and encouragement are often a great contributing factor for millennials in the workplace although they may need it more often than past generations one thing remains the same; praise in public and criticize in private.

Listen to their Ideas and personal Projects: I cannot tell you how many great ideas the millennials on my team have brought to me. The entire generation is surrounded with technology and a fast paced ever changing environment. Since they have grown up with all this around them they are very full of great ideas. Make sure you take time and listen to those ideas and personal projects that they may have a passion for.

Most people wait till the beginning of the year to do a business plan. I completely disagree with this approach. You should be working through the process now so you are ready to hit the ground running when January 1st hits. Here are 6 things that should be a priority in this year’s plan.

Know your niche: Who is your audience or perfect client? If you have not sat down and thought about who/what your niche is than you need too. The success of your business could depend on it. Within this niche, do you know what products will best fit them? This is imperative because now is the time to start studying the products that you want to gain expertise on to become a better well- versed business owner for the upcoming year.

Prospecting: This is almost a sub-business plan on its own. Are you doing educational workshops, community events, lead lists, direct response mailers or all of the above? You need to consider your budget because that could play a huge part in this. If you don’t know what to do then think about who you can you go to for some expert advice or to find out more?

Sales: How many sales do you want to make next year? What is your average premium per sale? Once you know this it needs to be broken down by how many people you need to see, how many presentations you need to do and what your closing rate is. From there, break it down even further into what you need to do per month, week and even daily to reach your sales goal.

Money: This goes right along with the sales section. Usually I have the business owners I am coaching tell me what they want to make for the year then we reverse engineer the game plan to know exactly what they need to do daily. If your income is 100% based off of your production you need to take this seriously and measure it every single week and review it on at least a quarterly basis.

Competition: What is your competition doing to be successful? I mention that you need to pay attention but not dwell on this because your business plan needs to be so good that you dominate your market not compete. But you need to pay enough attention to not got blindsided by enormous growth or other things that could hurt your practice.

Execution: Who, what, and how can you accomplish this plan? How can you insure your year’s success? What things should you better start implementing now to make sure that if nothing else you accomplish the minimum plan you have put in place.

If you need help with any of these areas don’t hesitate to call and talk to one of our teams experts to make sure 2016 is your best year ever!

Measure/Track Progress – It’s easy as a business professional or entrepreneur to ignore things and just go with the flow. I can tell you this won’t last for long and even if it can, it’s still not a great idea. Reality is that what gets measured gets done. That is just the fact. As an entrepreneur you want to be tracking sales numbers, income, expenses, advertising dollars and social media expense. Once you track this you also need to track the results that you receive from each expense.

Reflect on Victories and Losses – Fail, just fail faster and learn from your mistakes. That is some of the best advice I have ever been given in business. You need to reflect on not just failures but also victories. I keep a victory journal with small wins for the day so that I can see my progress and make sure my companies are headed in the right direction.

Take time for off for yourself and family – Burnout happens to all of us especially entrepreneurs. Weeks and months of tough decisions for the betterment of the company and your employees can become extremely overwhelming. Make sure you take a break to get your motivation back and clear your head. There is nothing I love more than a nice trip with my wife to relax and just smell the roses. It helps me come back to my business completely refreshed and renewed to get the creative juices flowing again.

Visualize Your End Game – Visualizing is a great practice for anyone wanting to aspire for something more. But most great entrepreneurs have a great vision of what they want their company to become. I often think of what Stephen Covey said, “begin with the end in mind.”

Self-Management – When working not only with myself and co-workers but also coaching many people in business I can tell you this is one of the biggest problems out there. I would suggest each day and week sitting down and making a list of priorities then transfer those priorities into categories such as delegating, automating, and even eliminating so that you can truly understand the concept of self-management. Also, if you want a great book on this topic I would suggest Dan Kennedy’s “No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs.”

First off, I want to thank you for reading this series on the six rules of gaining wealth. Today, we’re on the penultimate rule, number 5: Stop inventing obstacles to overcome.

What does this rule mean? Simply put, it’s telling you to be unafraid of making changes in order to achieve success. Stop saying that a person, event, or trait is blocking your way, ultimately preventing you from going forward, simply because you don’t want to change it.

You have the ability to change any situation you’re in. You aren’t a tree—heck, even trees know they need to bend in order to avoid breaking. Here’s the thing, you have to learn to bend, too. Nature gives us many great examples of making adjustments in order to accommodate the wind, the sun, or the drought in order to survive.

There are no excuses. If you aren’t in the right location, move. If you’re in the wrong business, get out of it. If you don’t have enough capital, find a way to earn more. Nothing is going to just appear for you. We all need to make changes in our lives that will help, not hinder our success.

Take the time to learn how to do things in your unique way. Find your way and run with it. Everyone has obstacles holding them back, even me. Sometimes it’s hard to overcome your obstacles, but you won’t get anywhere if you don’t try. Find a way to overcome your obstacles, and you’ll be on your way to success.

]]>http://motivationandsuccess.com/2015/10/15/the-six-rules-of-gaining-wealth-rule-5-stop-inventing-obstacles-to-overcome/feed/0The Basics of Business Budgetinghttp://motivationandsuccess.com/2013/12/31/the-basics-of-business-budgeting/
http://motivationandsuccess.com/2013/12/31/the-basics-of-business-budgeting/#respondTue, 31 Dec 2013 13:00:43 +0000http://motivationandsuccess.com/?p=1250When you run a business you have one goal in mind: to make money. You can not make money if you don’t know how to budget your expenses. Establishing a solid spending plan will ensure your business generates a profit – and you make the money you are after.

There is an old saying that goes “you have to spend money to make money.” This is true to an extent but you also have to be practical. Renting a big expensive office may make your firm look larger but it is not going to make you better and until you have the income to validate such an expense you just might want to rent a smaller office. The same is true for many other business expenses.

By establishing a basic business budget, you can see exactly where you want to spend the big bucks – and where you want to pare down expenses. After all, there is no need to buy 1,000 reams of top end business letterhead if the vast majority of your correspondence is via email. That money would be better spent elsewhere.

Maybe you can justify spending $12,000 a month on billboard coverage on a major thoroughfare. Great! But if that $2,000 telephone book advertisement is not bringing in clients, then ditch it. Be smart with the way you spend your money and you will reap the financial benefits.

Some people may scoff at the mere idea of establishing a solid spending plan for their business but those who are successful know a good business budget offers a lot of benefits:

Budgets help you get ready for the future. Learning how to control your expenses will help you establish solid spending habits that will help you sustain your business should another economic downturn come your way. Business people who have no idea how to control costs are the first ones to lose it all when business drops.

Budgets give you freedom to spend. When you know exactly how much money you have in your advertising account, it is much easier to say yes when a great deal comes your way. Be careful not to waste important advertising dollars today and you will have the funds available to splurge another time. Managers who have no idea how much they can spend on a promotion often overspend thereby limiting their profits and making the campaign useless.

Budgets help you accomplish more business goals. When you have a set budget to work with you can more freely take risks that could lead to larger profits. Knowing exactly how much money you have available and what expenses are coming up can give you a sense of freedom since no surprise bills will disrupt your plans.

How to set a realistic budget for your business

Not everyone is good at devising a workable spending plan. But it does not have to be complicated. The first step is to determine the amount of money you have to work with every month. This can be done by simply estimating your income by averaging the amount you have taken in each of the last six months. This should give you a good idea of what to expect regarding income levels.

Next, start looking closely at your monthly expenses. Be sure to include all of the small incidentals that may rob you of your profits. This might include membership fees, lunches, employee bonuses, etc. Of course you will also include your larger expenditures like insurance, taxes, rent, utilities, inventory, salaries and more. Be careful not to forget irregular expenses that may not appear in your ledgers on a regular basis. These have the tendency to eat away at your profits if you are not careful.

Once you know exactly how much you are spending, you can compare that amount to your income. If you are spending too much you will have to go back to the expenditure list and start looking for ways to cut expenses. Take time to look for expenses that are not necessary or may be repeated.

Another way to establish a business budget is to list the different categories your expenses may fall under such as facility costs, employee costs, supplies etc. then create budget amounts for each.

Establishing a good working budget for your business will take some time but if you are diligent you should be able to create one that is easy to follow and also effective in helping you reap the most profits.

]]>http://motivationandsuccess.com/2013/12/31/the-basics-of-business-budgeting/feed/0Setting Up Your Business Accounts Receivablehttp://motivationandsuccess.com/2013/12/17/setting-up-your-business-accounts-receivable/
http://motivationandsuccess.com/2013/12/17/setting-up-your-business-accounts-receivable/#respondTue, 17 Dec 2013 13:00:11 +0000http://motivationandsuccess.com/?p=1243Before you can ever open your doors or website to conduct business, you will need to get your financial house in order. Having the cash on hand to pay the bills is one thing, but actually having accounts to put that money in is quite another.

Opening a business account is not as easy as opening a personal account. Banks must open business accounts following certain rules and regulations to ensure no one is using the account as a front for illegal activity.

The first thing your bank will require is for you to have registered your business with the state and the federal internal revenue service (IRS). If you are working as sole proprietor, you will need to obtain a business identification number. Like a social security number this ID will be used to keep track of the income your business generates and the taxes it pays as long as it remains a viable business.

If you are running a very small business, you may be able to use your social security number as your business ID but check with your bank or a lawyer to see if this is possible.

For those who decide to incorporate their business using either an LLC or some other entity, a special number will be issued and this number must be used when opening any business accounts. Unlike an unincorporated business, checks deposited into the account must be made payable to the business name only. Personal checks must be cashed separately and the cash deposited into the business account. Accounts for non-incorporated businesses do not have to follow this same rule.

Once you have registered your business and obtained the proper ID numbers, it is time to meet with a bank representative to decide what type of accounts to open. The first and most important account you will need is a checking account. This will allow you to deposit funds and pay bills from the same account.

Like personal accounts, business accounts come in a variety of types. Here are just a few to consider:

Limited use accounts – small start-ups who do not anticipate a lot of deposits and withdrawals at the beginning may want to opt for the free checking services many banks offer. These limited use accounts usually allow the account holder to have a certain number of checks written and deposits made each month with no fees. Of course, if you go over the predetermined number, the fees will likely be higher than on other accounts. Still, they are an inexpensive option for brand new businesses.

Interest checking – once your business starts making money, the odds are you will have a considerable amount of funds sitting in your account each month. So why not make a little money on that balance? Interest checking accounts usually require the account holder to maintain a certain balance in order to receive monthly interest. Just be sure no fees are incurred should the balance go below the set amount.

Overdraft protection – it’s not uncommon in the first few months of any new business for payments from clients to come in more slowly than the money flowing out to pay your bills. Overdraft protection can save you large penalties in the event your account falls short of funds when you pay your bills.

Automatic bill pay – this can be a nice benefit for paying set monthly bills like rent, loans and even utilities. It just takes a few minutes to set up an account that allows you to set the day and amount the bank will pay to cover certain bills for you. For those who are uncomfortable with allowing someone else to have access to your account in such a manner (or who do not have set amounts to pay), there is another option which allows you to set the bill pay ahead of time but requires your authorization on the day the bill is due in order for the funds to be released.

Free checking – completely free checking is not as easy to find these days as it once was but there are still banks and credit unions willing to offer these services to smaller clients. The one drawback is the institution usually requires a hefty balance to be maintained in the account in order to reap the benefits of a no fees or low fees account.

Figuring out what type of checking account to open can be overwhelming, so be sure you take the time necessary to have your bank representative go over all your options and clearly outline the pros and cons of each account type. Also, be sure to ask for a complete list of fees so you can compare accounts before making your final decision. Once you have all the facts you should be able to easily make up your mind as to what type account will work best for you and your business dealings.